Cloud Pound delivers a razors edge of tough beats accompanied by a butterfly’s touch of melody and ethereal soundscapes. These songs uplift the listener as much as they inspire a tantrum of foot stomping.

Entranced, nearly basking in the radiance of R/D’s sound, audiences are swallowed up in his vibrant melodies, pounding beats, and zealous dedication to the craft. Dripping with angst and desire, R/D’s compositions can be at times dizzyingly beautiful, heartbreaking in their melancholy and dancefloor-crushing all at once. With artists clamoring to share bills and secure remixes, his edgy and experimental sound is finding new ears nationwide and beyond, elevating him from L.A. indie auteur to full-fledged underground sensation.

Not content to rework straightforward dance or hip-hop tracks, R/D’s eclecticism lead him to todays most cutting edge artists, resulting in massively successful remixes of Swedish songstress Fever Ray (“I’m Not Done”) and James Blake’s earth-shattering “Wilhelm Scream” both of which landed him high atop Hype Machine’s charts.

R/D has recently been tapped to join tours with The Glitch Mob, Bassnectar, VibeSquaD, and Beats Antique, and 2012 festival appearances include Coachella, Electric Forest, Lightening in a Bottle, and Boonstock. His “Bay Crush” album – released 12/5/11 – debuted at #1 on the Beatport Glitch-Hop chart, and he received a nod from North Face with his music featured as the sweeping soundtrack to an extreme snowboarding video.

Paper Diamond (Pretty Lights Music, Elm & Oak) announces new tour dates, continuing his progression across the great expanse of America, bringing beats to every state. Paper Diamond will be stopping by New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Memphis, as well as many others in between. Paper Diamond joins Tiesto Benny Benassi, Laidback Luke, and Diplo for Lights all Night a pre New years Eve gala on December 30th at Dallas’s Convention Center. Then kicking the New Year off to a fab start Paper Diamond will be joined by Pretty Lights, Thievery Corporation, The Glitch Mob, Bassnectar, and Theophilus London for Snowglobe Music Festival in Lake Tahoe for a festive NYE celebration! Following that Alex B will also be performing on the Jam Cruise, which passes through Ft. Lauderdale, Haiti, and Jamaica, and features a comprehensive line-up of artists across many different genres.

Paper Diamond has been consistently touring during the fall with his musical cohorts from both Pretty Lights Music and Elm and Oak. These artists have included Michael Menert, Sorry For Partying, Minnesota, and Raw Russ. Expect to see more outstanding musical talent featured in the new leg of his tour, furthering the reputation of Pretty Lights Music and Elm and Oak for housing some of the best up and coming talent in the US. M Machine who is signed to Skrillex’s label OWSLA joins on dates January 18-28.

Toronto’s Keys N Krates are known for their electro-hip-hop sound and mix live instrumentation with electronic elements to create both innovative originals and remixes. The band is now gearing up for their first release of original music, theBlackout EP, which will be self-released, and given away for free download on November 7th on their website http://www.keysnkrates.com. The first look into the Keys N Krates sound is a Lotus Remix of “Let It Rain”, one of the standout tracks on the 7-song Blackout EP. Download it HERE for free.

The Toronto based trio has made a name for themselves by relentlessly touring through Canada, America and toured in South East Asia, they’ve played Camp Bisco, Summer Camp, North Coast Festival, Electric Forest and opened an eclectic set of acts, such as Timbaland, Metric, OK Go, Girl Talk, Skrillex, Nas, The Roots, Bassnectar and Pretty Lights.

For a further look at Keys N Krates, check out remixes of Florence and the Machine’s cover “Postcards From Italy” HERE and other signature live remixes areDrake’s “Unforgettable” and Aaliyah’s “One In A Million” can be found on their Soundcloud HERE.

Allow us to introduce you to one of electronic music’s most promising new acts, Zeds Dead. The truth is, however, Toronto-based Zeds Dead (AKA DC and Hooks) needs no introduction to the legions of fans that have been on to the electronic/dubstep/progressive duo for the better part of two years. Through positive world of mouth, massive YouTube hits, support from top jocks and a never ending string of tour dates – to cities big and small – Zeds Dead has become one of the most exciting acts of 2011 and a true phenomenon.

Since its inception Zeds Dead has toured the United Kingdom twice and launched their first official North American Tour in Dec 2010, playing over 40 dates throughout Canada and the USA. They toured all around the world in 2011 and embarked on “The Rumble in the Jungle Tour” playing summer festivals in North America and the UK. Launched on September 2 and running though December 17, “The Graveyard Tour” is Zed’s Dead’s biggest tour to date.

Kissy Sellout and Skream were two of the first to take notice of Zeds Dead, featuring their remix of Blue Foundation’s “Eyes on Fire” on their radio shows, on BBC Radio 1 and Rinse FM, respectively. Soon after releasing their remix of “Eyes on Fire,” Zeds Dead was approached by Dragonette for whom they remixed their 2010 release, “Volcano”. Their original self-released “1975” was featured in GQ Magazine’s 2010 Video Shoot with Russian Supermodel Irina Shayk.

Zeds Dead’s productions can be heard in sets from artists like Diplo, Rusko, Skrillex, and Bassnectar with Kissy Sellout calling Zeds Dead “the future of genres…flipping genius.” In November 2010, Kissy Sellout’s label San City High released Zed’s Dead’s first official single and the title track, “Rudeboy”, reached #7 on the Beatport Dubstep Charts only 48 hours after its release. Their productions have garnered tens of millions of hits on youtube, and their remix of “Eyes on Fire” is the single most-viewed production on the UKF channel.

“They’re becoming internationally known perpetrators of notoriously unconscionable dance-floor violence, dropping dirty wobble, hacking it up with hammer fists, hitting the filthiest frequencies, dragging the bpm down to a slo-mo grind, and then ratcheting it back up to brutal superspeed.” – Miami New Times
“The Zeds Dead boys are the kind of artists who are willing to explore all sorts of genres in bass music and do them all really well. Not to mention they are the best of dogs!”
– Skrillex
“Zeds Dead caught my attention with their bootlegs…they took a different approach to dubstep…with their new releases they keep taking it further”
– Diplo
“Zeds Dead is the future of genres…flipping genius”
– Kissy Sellout
“This is the sound I CRAVE!”
– Bassnectar
“Zeds Dead is what’s been missing in EDM. These guys can produce and play every style”
– 12th Planet
“Zeds Dead is essential in every set”
– Excision

KING FANTASTIC ANNOUNCE THE RELEASE OF THEIR EP “DEATH OF SUMMER” RELEASED TODAY

THE FOLLOW UP TO THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED DEBUT LP
“FINGER SNAPS AND GUN CLAPS”
“Eclectic and menacing, the group’s big beat vitriol was born in Venice Beach and Playa del Rey in 2010, perhaps a surprise to those used to name checking Compton, Oakland and Long Beach in their hip-hop history discussions. But if the tracks from their 2010 debut, “Finger Snaps and Gun Claps,” or their forthcoming EP, “Death of Summer,” tell us anything, it’s that King Fantastic proudly represents its ZIP Code.”
-The Los Angeles Times
..“We want to bring Dope back to hip hop” -Troublemaker quoted in Thrasher

King Fantastic is not your ordinary musical duo from LA, but then again nothing is ordinary about their music. We’re living in an era where hip-hop progressively feasts itself upon electronic beats and King Fantastic delves head first into both arenas. Given the diverse upbringings of both producer and internationally known DJ, Troublemaker and Rapper/lyricist Killer Reese One (who is one half of LA underground rap duo Bleu Collar) one would safely say that it’s karma how they united. And the musical climate seems fit to release their new EP “Death of Summer” on August 30th 2011.

With that release, the duo achieved global digital underground success in both the electronic and hip hop cultures. While they made news headlines in the likes of The Los Angeles Times, they also found themselves booked on electronic savvy festivals such as Audiotistic and producing remixes from a diverse group of artists including Linkin Park, The Glitch Mob, The Bird and The Bee and Bassnectar.

King Fantastic’s music is nostalgic for the level of skill, originality and authenticity of the underground LA hip hop culture of the late 90s. The freestyle independence from Emcees and musical styles of that era coupled with today’s progressive bass driven dubstep and Drum and Bass scenes gave birth to “Westcoastsynthesizerbeach bumgangstermusic” a term tagged by King Fantastic.

On the one hand, Troublemaker’s influences range from hip hop to drum & bass, dubstep and electronic music – and when he first saw Killer Reese One perform at the Roxy he knew he was the man to rap over his beats. In a recent LA Times feature, Killer Reese One takes note “I’m not a bluesey rapper, my beats have to come a lot harder. Troublemaker’s beats are super bass-heavy and gangster without even a word recorded on it.”

And while Troublemaker was honing his skills as an engineer and producer, Killer Reese One’s former life plays a huge part in his creative process as a rapper. Raised in both Venice Beach and Compton – KRO’s childhood was as diverse as any artist’s palate. His raps are reality and he certainly has an interesting well of experiences to pull from which makes him both a great entertainer and prolific lyricist. Growing up the pair also listened to everyone from Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, NIN, Mo’Wax, Megadeth, Metalheadz, Slayer, NWA ,The Clash and A Tribe called Quest. However they both cite Ice-T and DJ Quik as main players, both who have a heavy dose of synth music in their tracks.

What to expect to hear on Death of Summer? According to Troublemaker,”When we set out to work on this new project, we did not have any particular direction in mind, although we were both in a dark place as humans. As a result, the music is much darker and harder than anything on our previous album, and Reese’s lyrics are a continuation of that.” He adds, “While our album is minimal in production and has a variety of styles, this EP is super full and is serious bass music.” In a recent interview with Acclaim magazine, What would you like people to come away with after listening to the new EP?: KRO responds “Euphoric fear.”

ill.Gates collabs with Bassnectar on Probable Cause – out now on Bassnectar’s Divergent Spectrum LP. Already taking the #1 spot on iTunes Electronic Chart and climbing others rapidly, got to give it up for the genius work put into each crafted gem on the LP. Also up is the free download of Gates’ track Under Mi Wildflower. And for the geeks on the other side of the bass bins, Gates has launched his new Ableton DJ Templates with mappings for the APC40, iPAD, MPD, and Trigger Finger… revolutionizing the way DJs DJ.